Oh hi there!

Hey there, blog friends!  Sorry for the radio silence again…I'm still here, although it's just been a super crazy busy month on all fronts!  And, here we are already at the end of March.  Wow. All I can say is, I'm glad it's the weekend and I'm finally able to take a breath! So, here I am  popping in with a quick, yet big {HELLO} to YOU! Today I wanted to share some pics of 2 of the projects we created at Michelle Halleen's Demonstrator Event earlier this month.  It was an amazing day of crafting inspiration - lots of stamping, demonstrations, paper crafting samples and speakers.

First up...how about this adorable little Card-in-a-box card for Easter?  This Easter card was designed by Michelle and it's just so much cuter in person, too!  And, if you'd like instructions for this fab card technique, you can check out Brianna Thompson's video tutorial here.  I, myself, can't wait to design one of these cute cards {when I get my next free moment!}.

For this card, we used Watercolor Wonder DSP, Wild Wasabi and Tangerine Tango card stock, Oval Framelits, Oval punches, Small heart punch and Circle from Itty Bitty Shapes Punch pack.

Another project we created was a sweet 3x3 card and mini gift bag.

I love the Retro Fresh DSP!  Here, Michelle paired it with the Pansy Punch and complementary Flower Shop stamp set.  Doesn't this make such a great little gift?  I love it with the Brown Sugar Ruffled Stretch Trim ribbon.  So cute.

Hope you guys have a great rest of your weekend!  I promise it won't be so long til my next post. Thanks for visiting! Ciao for now.

Back to Stamping!

Hi all!  Happy Saturday!  As I had mentioned in my post yesterday, I got back to doing some stamping last weekend at my dear friend and upline Michelle Halleen's Demonstrator Event.  It was a lot of fun and I am always just impressed at the amazing projects and classes that Michelle puts together for us.  Here are a few pictures from the event, just to give you a taste of what we got to experience!

Here's Sandy, Michelle, me, and Whitney.  The 3 of us got these adorable pups from Michelle for participating in her event.

One of the many awesome displays - these fabric projects were shared by Sheila.

And, how adorable are these purses?  Each attendee got pampered with one of these at check-in!

These sweet Summer Smooches 3x3 cards and holder were one of the many awesome projects we got to make.  Isn't this DSP just deliciously summery?

And lastly - a pic of Robin and I with another cute project - a teabag and treat caddy.  All in all, it was a really fun day!

Thanks for stopping in today.  Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Sale-a-bration Sneaky Peeky

Hello there dear friends!  I'm back with a combo Sale-a-bration Sneak Peek using the yummy Everyday Enchantment DSP in a layout I created in My Digital Studio {MDS}.  AND, I got to incorporate a few more pics from the Stampin'Up! Leadership conference, too!  Mark your calendars, cuz Sale-a-bration starts tomorrow!!  For those of you that may be wondering what Sale-a-bration is, it's an awesome annual Stampin'Up! promotion where you can earn free stamps or products from the Sale-a-bration catalog for every $50 you spend in Stampin'Up! Merchandise!!  It's quite the deal if you ask me.  I personally LOVE this Everyday Enchantment DSP, which comes in double sided 12x12 paper as well as in Digital format, too!  In fact, all the new Sale-a-bration offerings are available as a Digital CD download as one of the free product options.  Pretty cool, if you ask me! ;)

Now, here's a look at the 2 page layout I created:

I am having a lot of fun learning and experimenting with all the different elements in MDS.  Not to mention, after seeing all the different books and pages that you can purchase in the printed products, I am really hooked!  I have a few projects lined up that I want to try - first, my Leadership Conference book, and then a board book for my cute little guy.  I'll definitely share once I have them ready to go.  Don't you worry, though - I am still a stamper and paper crafter at heart, so more cards and papercrafting projects are coming up soon.

In the meantime, I am gonna continue going through my photos and will post more soon.  In the spirit of Chinese New Year, I want to wish you all "Gong Hei Fat Choi!" {Happy New Year!}

Some highlights from Stampin'Up! Leadership

Hello there bloggie friends!  I am back from the Stampin'Up! Leadership conference and came away with so many new creative ideas to share as well as some new ideas for making my Stampin'Up! "My Way."  First, let me share some fun pics of the displays that definitely gave me fresh inspiration:

 I love how they made flowers out of the Fashionable Hearts embosslit!  So so pretty!

How about these sweet little love notes?  Such a cute idea with the card and pen holder, AND the Balloon Frame.  Do you see that heart box with chocolate in it?  We got to sample some of that chocolate and it was DELISH!!!  Home made by a Stampin'Up! employee!

Here's a broader look at the display - love the Doily banner.  Just gorgeous!

And I love the yummy ice cream cone card - not to mention those fun jelly brad embellies!

These pillows using the Dresden die are truly inspiring me to learn to sew better.  How pretty are these!

You know I LOVE me the buttons, so I just loved this display of button ideas.

And, last but not least, the gorgeous Blossom punch.  The card idea is so so fun and summery - must case or recreate in some way!!

And, here's a picture of the fun group of gals that I got to spend lots of time with - from left to right: AnnMarie, Michelle, Liz, {me}, and Norma. 

So, besides all these awesome creative displays and fun Make and Takes, Leadership was also a great source of motivation for Demos to take an introspective look at their own businesses and provide insights on areas of growth or improvement.  What I really liked was this year's theme of doing business "My Way."  Being a working mom, many of you that have been following my blog know that I'm still trying to tweak my schedule to incorporate my stamping and blogging.  So, it's really nice to know that I can create my business to suit my needs and adjust as necessary.  Of course, I'm totally motivated now about my stamping business, so I'm rejuvenated by the idea of optimizing my schedule to fit everything in that's important to me.  Let's say it'll be an active work in progress, with more regular blog posts with stamping and crafting ideas coming in the future :) 

Here are a few highlights of the classes that we got to take:

• Why Women Buy - sounds like such a simple concept, right?  Carrie Cudney shared some great insights about the buying patterns of women and what made me laugh was her example of how a woman shops at the mall vs how a man shops.  Hilarious.  Bottom line is that we women want what we want - isn't that right?
• Then, we also got to learn about our individual career plans and benefits.  Bonnie Thurber was the presenter and I just LOVE her.  She's got such a great sense of humor that made it even more fun and entertaining to learn about the great benefits at the Sr Supervisor level of being a demonstrator and gave us inspiration to shoot for the stars ;)
• As you all know, stamping and papercrafting spans across a broad demographic of women of various generations.  Amy Swartz and Paula Critchlow shared with us how to include new generations to share the love of stamping.  I couldn't agree more - the art of stamping should be shared with young and old alike, so exposing a new generation to stamping is a no brainer in my book.  And, I just love how digital stamping makes it even more accessible!  {Love me the MDS, too!}

The biggest highlight, as always, is getting to see Shelli. 

She's one of those amazing women that just never ceases to inspire. It was great seeing her and getting to chat one-on-one for a quick second, too. Thanks, Shelli!

I took so many photos - I just need a bit more time to look through and edit so I can post more card samples and conference pics to share with you all! Will do that soon. Thanks for visiting! Bye for now!!



Happy Owl-oween!

Hi all!  How are you dear blog friends?  I know it's been a while since my last post!  I tell ya, I think time is a big enemy of mine these days because it doesn't seem to allow me to do everything I'd like to do in a given day.  Do you guys feel that way sometimes?  Well things have been quite busy on my front, which means that as a result, my blog has been somewhat neglected.  So sorry, dear friends.  I do miss you guys and keep wanting to share a bunch of things with you.  I know I'll get there.  It's just a matter of getting time on my side ;)

For today, I've got a fun Halloween post for you - how cute are those owls!!  I made these Owl treats for a Woo Hoo Demo Swap this past weekend.  Since I've found the need to try and maximize my crafting moments into the small windows of time I have, I opted for a quick and easy treat project that turned out pretty darned cute for how easy they were to put together!  Here's a close up of one of the treats for you:

I used the Two tags die to create my little "treat jacket."  What I did was start with a 3"x6" piece of Frightful Sight DSP, then folded it in half.  I then placed it onto the tag die so that the crease of the DSP was just above the scoreline on the tag die. Then, run it through your Big Shot.  For the front of my treat jacket, I punched out a Scallop Circle, then I stamped my adorable little Owl from the Warmest of Wishes Hostess stamp set {Holiday Mini}  in Basic Black and punched it out with the Owl punch.  Then, I adhered the treat to the inside and then tied up the treat jacket with the cute Scallop Dots ribbon in Basic Black.  Viola!  So easy peasy!  You can put a variety of Halloween treats in this little jacket.  For my sample, I had some extra Sugar Daddys that I had and used those.  What do you think?

Wanna see the rest of the amazing Halloween swaps I got?  Here's a look:

Now, aren't these just the cutest set of Halloween treats?  The witch's hat is actually an outlet cover - isn't that clever?  How do you like that tray that's holding all the treats?  It's super easy to make.. I used our handy dandy Simply Scored board to make it.  Just score a 12"x12" piece of DSP or Cardstock at 2 inches along each edge.  Then pinch the corners into triangles and use your Crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the center of these triangles.  Cinch up the corners with ribbon and knot it or make a bow to secure.  Now you've got yourself a tray! Another quick and easy project that makes a great display for treats, cookies or really any baked goodie :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I will be posting this month's Final Friday giveway sometime tomorrow, too, so stay tuned for that.  Have a great night!!



blog updates and leadership bound!

Hey there friends!  You may have noticed I've changed a couple of  things up a bit on the bloggie blog.  I was playing with some new My Digital Studio {MDS} downloads from the Occasions Mini and created my new little header graphic and I've also changed my background, trading in the blue and white polka dots with these multi-color ones.  I think it's fun to change it up every once in a while - it's like getting a new outfit! ;)

Anyway, on other news, I'm headed to Nashville today to attend my very first ever Stampin'Up! Leadership conference.  Boy is it going to be chilly there!  But besides the weather, many of you are probably thinking - what?  It took you 10 yrs to go to leadership?  Well, truthfully, the reason I became a demonstrator was because of my instant love for the craft.  I really was hooked on stamping from the very beginning!  Sure, I do the occcasional workshops here and there, and I do enjoy doing them.  {I hope to do them more regularly this year, as a matter of fact.}  Ultimately though, I consider myself a hobby demonstrator at heart and haven't really pushed hard on the selling side.  For me, it's not about that.  I do it because I LOVE to create and show people how cool stamping and papercrafting can be.  My blog is a testament to that piece.  I am thankful to have 2 awesome downline gals{yay Kris and Norma!} who happened to find me online. WooHoo! I'm happy to support them both in their venture as Stampin'Up demos.  No goal is too big or too small - it's really whatever you want to make it!  So, I welcome anyone else that would like to be a  part of my team - know that you'll get support and guidance from me. :)  My philosophy is that I a papercraft enthusiast and I want to promote stamping and papercrafting in any way I can, using whatever vehicles - blogging, workshops, newsletters, etc.  Stampin'Up! has allowed me to do that.  It's contagious!  Inspire.  Create.  Share.  That's what I hope to do with the crafting side of this blog :)

Well, I've clearly rambled on for way too long now!  I look forward to the whole leadership experience and finding out what's in store.  I can't wait to hear about where Stampin'Up! is headed and can't wait to check out all the cool new products and great ideas that will be unveiled.  I'm hoping to post live from Nashville, so stay tuned! I know I got a little soap box-y on this post, so hope you humored me for a sec.  ;) 

Look forward to sharing with you soon!

{New Colors} + {New Starter Kits} = WOW!

Image copyright 2010 StampinUp!

Hi again!  I love the start of a new catalog year at Stampin'Up!  So many cool things I want to share.  In my  previous post, I shared a special offer for former demos, so in this post, I'm gonna focus on the new starter kits!  It's an awesome time to join the Stampin'Up! family and become part of my team :)
Our Starter Kits, created exclusively for new demonstrators, contain Stampin' Up! essentials you'll need to get started in your new business. You can choose between the standard Starter Kit and the Digital+ Starter Kit. Both Starter Kits are customizable allowing you to choose products that you want to run your business your way.

The Standard Starter Kit
includes

•Four complete stamp sets (including a clear-mount set and clear-mount block)
•A Stampin' Around wheel, handle, and ink cartridge
•Assortment of Designer Series paper and card stock
•Four Classic Stampin' Pads
•Two Stampin' Write markers
•VersaMark Pad
•Whisper White 5/8" satin ribbon
•Songbird Décor Elements and applicator
•Adhesives
•Blender pen
•Stamping sponge
•Stampin' Scrub and Mist
•Box of Idea Book & Catalogs
•Business forms and tools

The Digital+ Starter Kit
includes:

•My Digital Studio software suite
•Three complete stamp sets (including a clear-mount set and clear-mount block)
•Assortment of card stock
•Four Classic Stampin' Pads
•Two Stampin' Write markers
•Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon
•Brights Designer buttons
•Songbird Décor Elements and applicator
•Adhesives
•Stampin' Scrub and Mist
•Box of Idea Book & Catalogs
•Business forms and tools

Choose the Starter Kit that best matches your stamping and paper-crafting interests, and get over $330 of Stampin' Up!'s high-quality products for just $175.

In addition, there are great Color Renovation kits available so you can update your Stampin'Up! color stash!

Contact me to learn more about these great new starter kits or color renovation kits. You can also visit my Online Store by clicking SHOP NOW on my Demonstrator home page!

Enjoy!

{my swap} and highlights of the WooHoo Stampers event

Good Morning, blog peeps!  Happy Sunday to you.  Are you guys having a fun weekend?  Hope so.  I know I had a fun day yesterday.  I was at Michelle Halleen's WooHoo Stampers Event in Valencia, CA and I even got to speak, too!  About blogs, no less! :)  It was defnitely a fun filled day.  So, I thought I'd share some highlights from the event.  The picture above is the swap card I created. Quick and simple, it did the trick for me to be able to mass produce the swap in a short amount of time!  Lucky for me, the Fifth Avenue Floral daisy stamp is pretty as is, so I didn't have to do much to it :)  Here's a look at one of them close up:

One of the ways I was able to make this card quickly, is I used the Scallop Square die to do my little pink scallop border.  I cut strips that were 4"x1" and was able to do 8 of these strips through the big shot at one time (4 strips along the top and bottom of the scallop square die).  Makes mass production go pretty fast, and still gives your card a fun element :)  It's a great way to make your Big Shot work for you.  It's probably the workhorse of all of my papercrafting projects!  Here's the quick recipe before I get to the event details:

{Daisy Just For You card}

All supplies Stampin'Up!

*Stamp Sets: Oval All, Fifth Avenue Floral {it's on sale this month!}

*Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White, Regal Rose

*Inks: Basic Black Classic Pad, Pretty In Pink and Regal Rose markers

*Accessories: Scallop Square Clear Bigz die, Scallop Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Basic Black grosgrain ribbon

There was definitely lots of AWESOME ideas at the event yesterday.  Here are some highlights of the fun projects that were being showcased.  TIP: If you click on the picture below, you'll be able to see a bigger picture:

At the beginning of the event, we got to swap our cards and watch some live demonstrations of a variety of papercrafting techniques.  I especially loved watching how to make a lot of different 3 dimensional flowers.  I can't wait to try it out and share samples with you, so stay tuned! We also got to make 4 projects while we were there, too.  Even more inspiration, I tell you!  Between the speakers, stamping, swapping, demonstrations and visiting with other demonstrators and guests, it was a great day.

The ringleader for this awesome event is none other than Michelle Halleen.  She lives in New York now, although she makes a point to do this event for her California demos - isn't that awesome?  It's just one example of the dedication she shows to us as a group.  WooHoo for you, Michelle!!!

Here's a picture of Michelle and I.  She's one amazing upline! 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Workshop at my house this Sunday!

Hey there! For all you local folks in the Los Angeles/South Bay/Long Beach area of SoCal that might be interested, I'm having a workshop this Sunday at my home! Contact me to get directions (my email is in the right sidebar of my blog)!

By the way - like my little flyer? I created it using the My Digital Studio program! Not only is it awesome for digital scrapbooking and cards, it's a great tool for creating graphics that can be used online on websites, newsletters and any electronic communications as well. My Digital Studio will be available for customers to order starting on October 1st.

On another note, are you ready for Freebie Friday? I promise it's coming, but I'll be posting it later today, so check back this evening! Have a great one in the meantime :)

gifts from convention

I bet you all thought I was done with my convention sharing. Nope! I've got a few more that I'll probably scatter through my posts in the next few weeks. Today, I wanted to share a few snapshots of some of the gifts I got from my sweet demo friends! Seriously, creativity abounds when you're among a bunch of crafters. I was happy as a clam to be the recipient of these awesome gifts. I've got 3 to share today:

Desktop Post-it Holder from Aimee



Top Note Alligator Clutch Bag from Robin


Post-it Mini Folder from Whitney

Aren't these awesome? I'll share some more next week.

Convention Life and Blogging Buddy Sightings!

Good Morning! So glad it's Saturday. I finally got a chance to sit and go through the rest of my convention pics and put together a sampling of convention life activities. But first, I wanted to share a few pictures of the blogging buddies I saw.Here's a picture of Maureen on the left and Aimee on the right. They're also both Freebie Friday winners! ;)
In this picture, we've got Sharon on the left and Lee on the right. They're both so sweet! I walked up to them and introduced myself - it was great to meet them in real life! Here I am with Liz. All these ladies are super talented, so I encourage you to visit their blogs if you haven't yet :)

Now, up next is my compilation of Convention Life. I've got the pictures numbered and if you take a look below the picture, you can read the corresponding captions. Like my other convention vignettes, if you click on the picture below, it will open in a bigger window, so you don't need a magnifying glass :) Hope you enjoy! 1. In line for Momento Mall – can you believe we stood there for 4 hrs? That’s as long as a trip to Vegas!
2. Here’s a pic of Robin and I in line – clearly it hadn’t been that long yet…we’re still smiling!
3. Ahhh – at last Momento Mall.
4. Thought I’d share a panoramic view of the morning crowd as we all wait for General Session to begin….there were about 3,000 demonstrators there!
5. Lunch time! We all got boxed lunches each day. The sandwiches weren’t bad ;) Around the table {L-R}, we have Sheila, Gabriella, Whitney, Katy, Debbie, Aimee, Robin
6. Lucky girl! This is Karin, who won a signed charm from Shelli from her new Simply adorned line coming out in the Holiday Mini (September 1st!)
7. Here I am with my fearless upline, Michelle.
8. Out to dinner at Bucca di Beppo – these gals are from our Idaho contingency: {L-R} - Beth, Karin, Crystal, and Jessica
9. Here we are standing (and sitting) in line for the morning session. Yep – you gotta get there early to get a good seat!
10. Check out all the bears – they made it to the general session. These bears were available in Momento Mall on the 2nd day of convention.
11. This is Dirk, the photographer – it’s plain to see he’s got a crush on this little Build-a-Bear demo!
12. Do you recognize Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Smell No Evil?
13. Shelli’s Angels made an appearance (heehee – me and my roommates acting goofy)
14. Here's a group of us at the mall – we actually caught a movie!
15. Of course, we had to check out the local Build-a-Bear store to do some product research ;)
16. Here’s Michelle’s bag at the airport (though this probably is a good example of most demonstrators’ carry ons) – filled with fun convention goodies to take home!

Doesn't convention look fun? It's a great time and one of the highlights of being a demonstrator that I really enjoy!

Segment 2 of Convention Eye Candy

Hi all. Going through all my pictures has been a lot of fun, but it's been tough to narrow down what to share! Today, I've got more samples and ideas to show you and tomorrow, I'll share pictures of all the cool peeps I hung out with and give you more of a day by day breakdown! I know that probably sounds backwards, huh? Oh well. Here's the second batch of convention pics (you can click on it to make it bigger):

Hope you all have a great day!

Post convention recap...segment 1

Hi all! I got back from Salt Lake City this morning and while I am exhausted from oversensory stimulation and lack of sleep, my head is filled with soo many ideas that I can't wait to implement! I want to start off by saying I had an awesome time with my fellow demonstrators. We got to see some cool new things that will be coming down the pipeline very soon - and I know you're gonna be just as excited about these products as I am! You may catch a glimpse or two of some of the things to come if you pay close attention.

I also want to share a bunch of pictures with you guys, so today, I'm going to post this first convention vignette of some of the great "eye candy" we got to check out at convention. This is just a teenie tiny snippet of the many fabulous things we got to see. You'll see that these snapshots don't even show any CARDS, but instead, a variety of ideas for decorating, embellishing, and creating precious hand crafted items to add that special touch to any project! Many of these projects use the Big Shot...so if you don't have one yet, IT'S TIME TO GET ONE! You can click on the picture below to bring a bigger version up in a new window. Enjoy segment 1!

Did you like this first look? I'll be posting a few more of these in the coming days, so stay tuned. Bye for now!

Greetings from Convention!

Hi all! I'm in Salt Lake City right now at the Stampin'Up! Convention, so I apologize for my lack of posting this week...it's been a little hectic, plus, I've been a bit internet challenged the last couple of days. Once I get back, I'll do more of a "proper" recap of the events, but for now, I'm gonna share a couple of pictures of some fun highlights...These are convention pins I made for my roomies. I used 2 layers of the 3rd largest flower folds die and notched one layer with the tip of the 5 petal flower punch.
This is my little convention bear - isn't she cute? I named her Bella Bear. Stampin'Up! has a brand new partnership with Build-a-bear, so stay tuned for lots of cute products in this new line!
Here's a group pic was taken just before this morning's session of most of the Woo Hoo demonstrators that were able to attend!

Dream Big with Shelli!

Hi all! How fun is this picture with Shelli!?! The theme of this convention was "Dream Big" and one of the events was a Pajama Party. Here I am with Shelli Gardner, the Stampin'Up! CEO and Co-Founder, and my roomie and fellow demonstrator, Robin Castagnola. Don't we look cute in our matchy-matchy pj's? Heehee.

I just figured out how to do a collage in Photoshop Elements, so this batch of photos is in a fun collage format! You can click on it to get a bigger collage photo in a new window:
Thanks for peekin in today :)

A trip down memory lane...SU Conventions!

Hi there! Thank goodness for digital technology...it makes it easy to pull pictures from the past together and post online :) Today, in the spirit of Stampin'Up!'s convention coming up this week, I thought I'd share some photos from conventions past. I became a demonstrator in November of 2000 and have been to all but one convention - I didn't make it to 2003. For some reason, I'm also missing 2001, but that might be because I probable didn't have a digital camera yet...who knows! I do vividly remember it though, since it was my first one! Unless I can dig up some hard copies of that convention, I'll have to just share 2002-2008 for you. Here's a glimpse of convention from my point of view. I'm part of the WooHoo stampers, led by Michelle Halleen, our awesome fearless leader.

For today, you'll see the pics from 2002-2005 and the rest you can see tomorrow. You have to keep in mind that I took hundreds of pictures of samples and such, but here, I'm just gonna share a few "people" photos. Hope you enjoy!

{2002 - Kansas City, KS}Here's a picture with the celebrity stamp icons, Punchy and Stampy. Very exciting.
Here's a group of us WooHoo stampers, with Michelle in the front row center :)
Don't we look so cool in our paper engineer caps?

{2004 - Orlando, FL}Can you feel the magic? You gotta love our little Brady Bunch pose!
Where'd they all go? Just me.

{2005 - Salt Lake City, UT}Don't you just love that Retro Bus? Clearly, this was the start of the vinyl revolution. :)
A group shot in Downtown Salt Lake. Fun times.

Every convention is always filled with excitement, stamping, and lots of memorable moments. I've made some great friends over the years and I have to say I look forward to this time of year with anticipation, when I get to see my demonstrator friends from all over the country at our annual "reunion." Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures of the last 3 conventions. Bye for now!